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Warrior builds
In the endgame instances, the primary job of a Warrior is to tank. Holding aggro while migitating incoming damage is the only role for which this class is better suited than any other. Unfortunately, when soloing or in the early game instances, this skill is much less useful. Instead, DPS is a greater concern. The interesting challenge for each warrior is to find his personal compromise between these two goals. Notable Talents This section will not cover every talent in the tree. However, it will point out various talents that are more or less useful than they seem at first glance, as well as talents that are key to creating effective builds in each tree. Going over this list would be highly recommended before attempting to create your own talent build. Tactical Mastery Tactical Mastery is the most prominent talent over all of the warrior's choices. This ability allows the warrior to retain up to 25 rage when changing stances. While there are some warriors who play without it, a minimum of two points in this talent is required for every level 60 warrior build in order to make full use of their skills, as this is the only reliable way to quickly use abilities from other stances and then return to the original stance. Some tactics that this opens up include the following: *Charge -> Defensive/Berserker Stance *Battle Stance -> Overpower, Mocking Blow, Thunder Clap *Defensive Stance -> Shield Bash, Shield Block *Berserker Stance -> Intercept, Pummel, Whirlwind Arms Improved Heroic Strike (Tier 1) - This talent is useful for warriors who are just starting out and only have this skill to deal damage. It is also useful to Fury warriors, who often use it to consume their extra rage, and Protection warriors, who welcome anything that makes it easier to hold aggro. Ironically, this is least useful to an Arms warrior who is DPSing. Deflection (Tier 1) - This is an excellent skill readily available to all warriors. This additional chance to parry is useful mostly while tanking, and is also nice to have while soloing and PvPing. Tactical Mastery (Tier 2) - It has its own section devoted to it. Kinda speaks for how important it is, no? Improved Thunder Clap (Tier 2) - Probably the most maligned skill in all of the warriors' talents, and for good reason. Provides a tiny reduction in rage cost for one of the more infrequently used skills. Avoid at all costs. Improved Overpower (Tier 3) - This talent changes Overpower from a decent skill to an amazingly powerful attack. With a two-hander, this skill will have a very high chance to deal massive damage, while dual-wielders will get good damage plus an easy way to activate Flurry. Anger Management (Tier 3) - While not an amazing skill, it is worth pointing out that due to the way this talent was implemented, it has the effect of generating one rage every tick while you are in combat. This extra rage, while small, can add up over the course of a long fight or give you that last point you need to use a skill. Also, over time, this generates the same amount of rage as using non-improved Bloodrage or 2/2 Improved Berserker Rage every time they're available. Impale (Tier 4) - This two-point talent increases your critical strike damage on special attacks only. It's an excellent choice for any Arms build or DPS-focused Fury build since it increases your maximum burst damage--an important PvP factor. Sweeping Strikes (Tier 5) - The 21-point Arms talent allows you to deal with two enemies at once. It can allow for incredible amounts of damage if you have enough rage to use Whirlwind, Mortal Strike, and Cleave while it's active. Mortal Strike (Tier 7) - The crown jewel of the Arms tree. This skill is unquestionably the single most powerful attack a warrior can bring into group PvP, as it combines excellent burst damage with an anti-healing debuff. This is also the reason Arms builds are ineffective with a one-handed weapon--being based off weapon damage, Mortal Strike shines when used with an extremely slow and powerful two-handed weapon. Fury Cruelty (Tier 1) - This talent, with its very generic increase to critical strike chance, is nevertheless an excellent choice for any build. Definitely should be included in any build that wants to DPS in PvE or PvP, and a little more damage also makes it easier to hold aggro when tanking. Unbridled Wrath (Tier 2) - Does not have any chance to generate rage on special attacks, including "On Next Melee" skills such as Heroic Strike and Cleave. Still useful to any dual-wielding warrior, but ineffective for a two-handed weapon user. Piercing Howl (Tier 3) - This ranged AOE dazing shout is very useful in PvP. Since it has a longer range than Hamstring, it can be used to catch an opponent who has just barely escaped melee range, and is also good for escaping or safely distracting multiple melee opponents in either PVE or PVP. Dual Wield Specialization (Tier 4) - Increases offhand damage to 125% of 50%, making your offhand deal 62.5% of normal weapon damage. Although the tooltip is slightly deceptive, this is still a solid choice for a Fury warrior who wants to deal as much damage as possible. Enrage (Tier 4) - This skill is probably the main reason most PvP-oriented warriors go 20 points into the Fury tree. Because PvP is so focused around having a high crit chance to quickly kill your opponent, this 25% damage increase is almost always active. Not so useful while tanking, as taking a large amount of damage at once is something you want to avoid if at all possible and avoiding crits is a big part of tanking. Improved Slam (Tier 5) - Since the global cooldown is 1.5 seconds, this talent won't actually let you Slam any more often than you already can. It does, however, make it less likely that you'll be hit while preparing the Slam, and requiring you to stand still for only a second makes Slam much more usable in fast-paced PvP combat. Death Wish (Tier 5) - This skill is overall very useful, allowing a warrior to significantly boost their damage output for a short time. While it does come with a armor and resistance penalty, it doesn't increase the damage taken as much as it increases damage dealt, and the penalty doesn't matter at all in situations where someone else is tanking and your job is to provide lots of damage. Also, the ability to break Fear and gain Fear immunity for 30 seconds from any stance is always welcomed in PvP and can be used to establish control in PvE in encounters where Fear makes it difficult to attack consistently. Improved Intercept (Tier 5) - This talent shortens the cooldown of Intercept to 20 seconds, considerably improving your chances of being able to use it twice or perhaps even three times in a fight. An excellent choice for any warrior who wishes to PvP with a Fury build, but too deep for an Arms warrior to take. Improved Berserker Rage (Tier 6) - This talent provides another way to gain a quick burst of rage when it is needed. This is useful whenever you quickly need to use a skill and don't quite have enough rage (for example, to Pummel or Intercept) and cannot or do not want to use Bloodrage. It can also be used in conjunction with Bloodrage to start a fight with a large amount of rage, which helps you either start off with powerful attacks or solidify your threat generation while tanking. However, it provides the same rage generation over time as Anger Management for twice as many points. Flurry (Tier 6) - This skill is the crown jewel of the Fury tree. Once a warrior aquires a large amount of +hit and +crit equipment, they can keep Flurry activated almost all of the time. This leads to a massive DPS increase and gives the Fury tree its main strength--extremely high PvE damage abilities. Bloodthirst (Tier 7) - This 31-point talent provides a new instant attack so that Fury warriors do not have to rely on Whirlwind and Heroic Strike for their damage. It also provides a small amount of healing, which can sometimes save your life, and scales better with more attack power than any other warrior ability due to the way its damage is calculated. Protection Last Stand (Tier 3) - This talent provides the warrior with another "panic button." This boost in health can give you the staying power to finish a close fight in any situation or survive a lag spike or surge of damage until a healer can react to save you. Improved Shield Block (Tier 3) - Only one point is necessary for this talent--points 2 and 3 only increase the duration of the Shield Block, but you only care about having two blocks every time you activate this skill. Since NPCs cannot crit or crush through a block, this is extremely valuable for tanking. Improved Revenge (Tier 3) - This skill is most useful in PvP and tanking non-raid instances. Many enemies in raid-level instances are immune to stuns, although this is changing in the latest raid instances. Check to see if what you're tanking can actually be stunned before taking this talent. Defiance (Tier 3) - This is a must-have skill for any serious tank. 15% more threat makes it that much easier to hold aggro, and that's half of the tank's job. Improved Sunder Armor (Tier 4) - Unless you're using some kind of instant attack every time your cooldown is up, this skill can help you generate more threat. Again, excellent choice for any serious tank. Improved Disarm (Tier 4) - Much like Improved Revenge in that many enemies cannot be disarmed at all. Check to see if there are any mobs you would actually care about keeping disarmed for 3 more seconds before taking this talent. Improved Taunt (Tier 4) - Much like Improved Revenge in that many raid-level enemies cannot be taunted, or do not need to be taunted often. While useful in non-raid instances, you should check to see how often you wish Taunt was available faster before taking this talent. Improved Shield Wall (Tier 5) - A good choice if you remember to use Shield Wall. While it is another situational talent due to the very long cooldown on Shield Wall, there are few, if any, situations in which an extra 5 seconds of Shield Wall would be wasted. Concussion Blow (Tier 5) - See Improved Revenge. Could be useful in PvP or non-raid tanking, but the main reason to get this is really to unlock Shield Slam. Improved Shield Bash (Tier 5) - Much like Improved Revenge in that many raid-level enemies cannot be silenced. This is quite useful in non-raid tanking though, since being able to silence enemies allows you to force them to follow you back toward the group. As always, check to see how many places you could use a silencing ability before taking this talent. One-Handed Weapon Specialization (Tier 6) - While tanks are not usually thought of for their damage-dealing capabilities, their damage is still important--quite a large part of threat generation comes straight from the damage they deal, and this also gives them more rage to generate yet more threat. Although this talent isn't amazing, it's still a good choice for a warrior who is going deep into the Protection tree anyway. Shield Slam (Tier 7) - This skill gives the warrior a new instant. It is the only "tanking" instant that becomes more powerful with better equipment, and also generates a high amount of threat, making it a better choice than Sunder Armor when it is available. The chance to dispel beneficial magic on the target as well as the respectable damage value also gives a tanking-specced warrior a way to be useful in PvP. Common Build Examples 31 Arms/20 Fury This is probably the most common build for the solo or PvP-oriented warrior. 31 points in Arms provides many talents centered around burst damage, while 20 points in Fury provides some support skills as well as the all-important Enrage that warriors thrive on in PvP. Talent Calculator Link Key talents here include: *Tactical Mastery *Improved Overpower *Impale *Sweeping Strikes *_____ Weapon Specialization *Mortal Strike *Cruelty *Enrage *Piercing Howl Filler talents that can be removed or added as you like include: *Improved Heroic Strike *Deflection *Improved Charge *Two-Handed Weapon Specialization *Improved Hamstring *Booming Voice *Improved Demoralizing Shout *Improved Cleave Other notes: *The example build has 5/5 Axe Specialization, but you can change this to whatever weapon you prefer or have to use. ---- 31 Arms/5 Fury/15 Protection This is the classic 31/5/15 hybrid build. The Arms and Fury talents give the warrior respectable damage output, while the Protection talents greatly enhance tanking ability. Talent Calculator Link Key talents here include: *Deflection *Tactical Mastery *Improved Overpower *Impale *Sweeping Strikes *_____ Weapon Specialization *Mortal Strike *Cruelty *Defiance Filler talents that can be removed or added as you like include: *Improved Heroic Strike *Two-Handed Weapon Specialization *Improved Hamstring *Shield Specialization *Anticipation *Last Stand *Improved Shield Block Other notes: *The exact points in the Protection tree is the subject of most variations on this build. Last Stand and 1/3 Improved Shield Block can greatly enhance a warrior's ability to stay alive, but you cannot get both those and 5/5 Defiance with only 15 points. To get these talents, you will need 4 extra points--this is done by taking points out of any or all of Cruelty, Toughness, or Defiance. A perfect hybrid with everything is, of course, not possible; you will need to sacrifice either some crit, some armor, some threat generation, or some migitation. ---- 17 Arms/34 Fury Fury is generally considered to have a greater number of strong talents deep in the tree than Arms. Therefore, Fury warriors generally put more points into Fury than Arms warriors put into Arms. 17 Arms allows for Impale to increase burst damage and overall DPS. Talent Calculator Link Key talents here include: *Tactical Mastery *Improved Overpower *Impale *Cruelty *Unbridled Wrath (if dual wielding only) *Improved Battle Shout *Enrage *Death Wish *Flurry *Bloodthirst Filler talents that can be removed or added as you like include: *Improved Heroic Strike *Deflection *Anger Management *Improved Cleave *Piercing Howl *Blood Craze *Dual Wield Specialization *Improved Execute *Improved Slam *Improved Intercept *Improved Berserker Rage Other notes: *This build can easily work with any kind of weapon, one-handed or two-handed. If you often find yourself playing with different types of weapons, then avoid Unbridled Wrath and Dual Wield Specialization and you will have no talents that require a certain kind of weapon to work well. *A Fury build with Impale allows for only 34 points in Fury at maximum--you will probably need to choose between Dual Wield Specialization for increase damage, or Improved Berserker Rage/Intercept/Execute/Piercing Howl for greater utility abilities. ---- 12 Arms/39 Fury This Fury build follows a similar path to the 17 Arms/34 Fury build shown above. It does not include Impale, investing heavily in the Fury tree instead to pick up both Dual Wield Specialization and all of the normal Fury "utility" talents. Talent Calculator Link Key talents here include: *Tactical Mastery *Improved Overpower *Cruelty *Unbridled Wrath *Improved Battle Shout *Dual Wield Specialization *Enrage *Improved Execute *Death Wish *Improved Intercept *Improved Berserker Rage *Flurry *Bloodthirst Filler talents that can be removed or added as you like include: *Improved Heroic Strike *Deflection *Anger Management *Improved Cleave *Piercing Howl *Blood Craze Other notes: *Although Fury is capable of working with both two-handers and dual weapons, this build is focused on maximizing the potential of dual wield's DPS. This is not the best choice if you like to use two-handed weapons. ---- x Arms/x Fury/31+ Protection Good for main tanking, particulalry at high-end instance raids. If you look at the talent calculator, not all the points have been spent--this is because there are many, many variations on these heavy Protection main tank builds. The example build is a good place to start, from which you can move some Protection points around and/or fill in some parts of the Arms or Fury trees. Talent Calculator Link Key talents here include: *Deflection *2/5 Tactical Mastery *Shield Specialization *Toughness *Last Stand *1/3 Improved Shield Block *Defiance *Concussion Blow *One-Handed Weapon Specialization *Shield Slam Filler talents that can be removed or added as you like include: *Pretty much everything else Other notes: *Common places to finish up and variations in Protection points for this build include: **14 points into Arms to get Improved Heroic Strike and Anger Management **11 points into Fury to get Piercing Howl **Sacrificing Shield Slam and all Arms talents to go 21 Fury and get Death Wish **Swapping points between Improved Revenge/Sunder Armor/Taunt/Shield Wall/Shield Bash Category:Guides Category:Warriors Category:Talents Category:Warrior Talents